Preston County Clerk announces plans to formally resign
'I do know that […] she has some stress, you know, lately in the job and everything, and there's been a lot of issues,' Preston County Commission President Don Smith said. 'I think she just had a lot of stuff going on in her family life, and she just needed a break.'
Smith told 12 News that according to Huggins, there may be other resignations this coming fiscal year in different sections within her office. He stated that Huggins requested for the Preston County Commission to bring in someone temporarily to overlap with another person that's leaving, to train this new person up until they officially resign.
Smith said the commission didn't have an issue with this, but there was a thorough discussion about it during Wednesday's meeting. Smith said that the purpose of this was to make sure that everyone understood what the timeline was, when it was going to happen and other necessary details revolving around it.
Huggins will officially resign from her position on Jun. 30, which Smith said is the close of the current fiscal year. The Preston County Commission will have 30 days to make an appointment at that time, per West Virginia Code 3-10-7.
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Smith said that since Huggins provided the commission with advance notice, they're able to now begin looking for potential candidates to fill the vacancy. The commission plans to meet next week to discuss its plans moving forward so that it can name someone almost immediately.
'Hopefully, it goes to where we do not have any gap,' Smith added. He stated that the Preston County Commission faced a similar issue last year, when the previous sheriff suddenly died.
'There's certain people you have to have to function as a county: one's a sheriff, one's the county clerk, and then the commission obviously,' said Smith. 'So those are people that have to be there.'
Smith stated that Huggins has done the Preston County Commission a service by providing it with so much notice, adding that while it will help a great deal, she will be missed.
'It's gonna leave a hole in the county,' Smith added. 'I mean, let's be realistic, she's been the clerk for quite some time now. She's done a lot with the election and everything, she helped when we were upgrading the election equipment and things like that, she brought that to us and we were able to get that.'
Smith told 12 News that Huggins was able to show the need for upgraded election equipment, which the commission was able to get funded through multiple sources. He also mentioned that Huggins played a pivotal role in the expansion of the Preston County Election Center, which he said worked out well, adding that things like that were very helpful regarding local elections.
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